The alleged armed opposition's presence in Syria, regardless of the terrorist organizations, is turning into a smokescreen that the West uses to distort the reality of what really happens there. Supporting these groups, that many doubt they exist at all, was an excuse to hide the failure of a US-led policy to create the image of anti-governmental opposition fighting to overthrow the Syrian government. Until September 30, when the Russian armed forces intervened in the Syrian conflict, which  the  country has been involved in for more than four years now, nobody talked about it, even though the Syrian army were holding 400 battlefronts in different national geographic points.

 

With its persistent financial, logistical support and the newest weaponry, Western powers and their acolytes in the area, underestimated the fighting capacity of the Syrian armed forces in the fight against terrorists or the so-called "opposition,” and they are not the same, but are nearly equal. It would be interesting to look back at these alleged armed groups, that now the United States, and some European powers, and countries in the region, that follow Washington's orders, try to defend as “freedom fighters.” The most symbolic, although the most discredited among these groups is the self-proclaimed Free Syrian Army (FSA), a military organization which was welcomed by the White House and the Pentagon from the beginning. Created by the CIA and the French secret service, with the assistance of members of the Foreign Legion, this "army" originally consisted of defectors of the Syrian armed forces.

It is somehow significant that its flag is the neocolonial French pennant that embodies the command over these lands of the Levant (1923-1946) and its integration, a very doubted fact, created by many foreigners, including ones, who were known as the Mujahideen’s of the Caucasus. The FSA and other groups manipulated by the West, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, almost succumbed between two fires: on the one hand, the Syrian army did not give them any barracks in their areas of operation and, on the other hand, overt terrorist groups as ISIL and al-Nusra Front did not accept rivalries.

 

Moreover, in this case, there are the Islamic Movement of the Free Men of the Levant (Ahrar al-Sham), backed by Turkey and Qatar, and other groups that have been dismantled, not to say demoralized, and ended up reinforcing ISIL's and al-Qaeda’s rows, represented here by the al-Nusra Front. None of these groups were strongly supported by the Syrian people, even by those, who do not agree with President Bashar al-Assad, especially for his extreme and cruel practices, which slightly differ from criminal ISIL practices.

 

Now, Washington, Paris and London, uncover their propaganda machines with an intention to present them as "revolutionaries serving the people" seeking to discredit the effect of Russian air attacks, which were targeted against the worst assassins known to Syria. Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin answered to an offer made by French President Francois Hollande that he would "try to unite the efforts with the Damascus troops and the so-called Free Syrian Army."

"The problem is we do not know where or who is heading the FSA," said Russian president almost ironically. In turn, the Syrians do know. When they are terrorized crossing borders with Turkey, Israel or Jordan, or when they join the rows of ISIL, or lay down arms before the national army. The rest is just fluff from the West, which does not know how to deal with the failure of its hegemonic policy in this country that dares to defend itself.